List of Objects By Distance (Light Years)?

Is there an on-line directory of objects organized by light-year
distance? I'm looking for something that would be able to tell me:
"Here are objects whose light left them in 1776"
"Here are objects whose light took 367 years to reach Earth" and the
like. I'm working on
something that would associate earthly historical events with the time
it's taken light from
various celestial objects to reach us.

advTHANKSance,

wrote:

Is there an on-line directory of objects organized by light-year
distance? I'm looking for something that would be able to tell me:
"Here are objects whose light left them in 1776"
"Here are objects whose light took 367 years to reach Earth" and the
like. I'm working on
something that would associate earthly historical events with the time
it's taken light from
various celestial objects to reach us.

Here's a list of the nearest hundred stars in order of distance:

http://www.chara.gsu.edu/RECONS/TOP100.htm.

But it'll only take you back to 1984.

Thanks.
Is there a way to quickly scan through the source data files or do I
have to load Celestia
and then load the data and view the data within Celestia?

wrote in news:1140640470.060104.226730
@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

Thanks.
Is there a way to quickly scan through the source data files or do I
have to load Celestia
and then load the data and view the data within Celestia?


You could try getting hold of a copy of the ESA's Hipparcos catalogue. The
Parallax and parallax error are amoung the parameters. You probably need to
get it in a text format that you can load into a spreadsheet. I think the
standard format for the catalogue is binary so the trick would be to write
a program to convert it into a CSV file perhaps. Maybe google to see if
someone has already done it.

Klazmon.

Thank you for your reply. The chara.gsu.edu website is very
interesting, although (as you note), limited for my purposes. However,
unlike the Hipparcos data, this website includes the common names of
the stars.

I should mention that I'm not an astronomer, and I'm looking for this
data to share with others who are most likely also not astronomers. So,
arcsecond calculations of parallax are beyond me. My preference (and I
should have been clearer with the original post) is to have a list with
the common names of the stars (or other objects), indicating light-year
distance. An additional preference is *visible* stars that can be seen
with the naked eye (yes, that severely cuts down the data set, and I
apologize for not mentioning that previously).

advTHANKSance,

"George Dishman" wrote in
ups.com:


George Dishman wrote:
...
You can search Hipparcos by parallax he

http://www.rssd.esa.int/hipparcos_sc...MultiSearch.pl

Tick the box marked "parallax (mas)" and enter min and max
values corresponding to the distance range of interest. The
highest value in the table (nearest star) is 392.4. Column H11
gives the actual value.

Sorry, that should be 772.33 for Proxima Centauri at 4.22 light
years. The parallax is 3260 / distance in light years.

H16 gives the standard error of the measurement which is usually
around 0.7 to 1.6 so for distances beyond about 2mas you may
need to use another method.

Field details are he

http://www.rssd.esa.int/Hipparcos/pstex/sect2_01.pdf

George



Thanks George. I have bookmarked these for future reference.

Klazmon.

wrote:
Thank you for your reply. The chara.gsu.edu website is very
interesting, although (as you note), limited for my purposes. However,
unlike the Hipparcos data, this website includes the common names of
the stars.

I should mention that I'm not an astronomer, and I'm looking for this
data to share with others who are most likely also not astronomers. So,
arcsecond calculations of parallax are beyond me.

It's easy to convert, roughly you divide 3260 by distance
to get parallax or vice versa, so if you want a star 326 light
years away, that's 10mas parallax.

My preference (and I
should have been clearer with the original post) is to have a list with
the common names of the stars (or other objects), indicating light-year
distance.

The following is a list of most common names

http://www.naic.edu/~gibson/starnames/starnames.html

As you can see there aren't too many. Unfortunately
it doesn't give distances but you can enter the names
into SIMBAD

http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/sim-fid.pl

For example I entered "Mirach" and it told me the parallax
was 16.36 mas which is 3260 / 16.36 = 199 light years.

It might be easiest to spend a little time going through that
list working out the distance for each and write your own list.

An additional preference is *visible* stars that can be seen
with the naked eye (yes, that severely cuts down the data set, and I
apologize for not mentioning that previously).

Generally stars only have names if they are easily
visible since there were given centuries ago.

George

In article .com,
writes:
My preference ... is to have a list with
the common names of the stars (or other objects), indicating light-year
distance. An additional preference is *visible* stars that can be seen
with the naked eye

While not exactly what you want, just for jollies I used the VizieR
catalog service http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR to search
the Hipparcos catalog for the 100 nearest stars that are brighter
than V=6.5, i.e., naked-eye visible under excellent conditions.
Results are below. Unfortunately there are no names, but one could
use the RA and Dec to look up the names in SIMBAD. Positions are
J2000 with proper motions taken into account at that epoch (if I
understand the output). The Plx column is parallax, and e is the
uncertainty in that value. Distance in light years is 3262/Plx,
which you could easily compute by throwing the table below into a
spreadsheet.

The first two stars are obviously alpha Cen B and A, and the third
one is Sirius. After that recognition gets a little tougher. :-)

RAJ2000 DEJ2000 Vmag Plx e B-V
"h:m:s" "d:m:s" mag mas mas mag

14 39 35.081 -60 50 13.76 1.35 742.12 1.40 0.900
14 39 36.496 -60 50 02.31 -0.01 742.12 1.40 0.710
06 45 08.917 -16 42 58.02 -1.44 379.21 1.58 0.009
03 32 55.844 -09 27 29.74 3.72 310.75 0.85 0.881
21 06 53.943 +38 44 57.89 5.20 287.13 1.51 1.069
07 39 18.118 +05 13 29.98 0.40 285.93 0.88 0.432
21 06 55.264 +38 44 31.40 6.05 285.42 0.72 1.309
22 03 21.657 -56 47 09.51 4.69 275.76 0.69 1.056
01 44 04.083 -15 56 14.93 3.49 274.17 0.80 0.727
04 15 16.320 -07 39 10.33 4.43 198.24 0.84 0.820
18 05 27.286 +02 30 00.36 4.03 196.62 1.38 0.860
19 50 46.999 +08 52 05.96 0.76 194.44 0.94 0.221
19 32 21.591 +69 39 40.23 4.67 173.41 0.46 0.786
14 57 28.000 -21 24 55.71 5.72 169.32 1.67 1.024
00 49 06.291 +57 48 54.67 3.46 167.99 0.62 0.587
17 16 13.363 -26 32 46.13 6.33 167.56 1.06 1.144
17 15 20.978 -26 36 10.19 4.33 167.08 1.07 0.855
20 11 11.938 -36 06 04.36 5.32 165.24 0.90 0.868
03 19 55.651 -43 04 11.22 4.26 165.02 0.55 0.711
20 08 43.608 -66 10 55.45 3.55 163.73 0.65 0.751
23 13 16.975 +57 10 06.08 5.57 153.24 0.65 1.000
14 51 23.379 +19 06 01.66 4.54 149.26 0.76 0.720
17 18 57.179 -34 59 23.25 5.91 143.45 17.12 1.082
02 36 04.894 +06 53 12.73 5.79 138.72 1.04 0.918
00 48 22.977 +05 16 50.21 5.74 134.04 0.86 0.890
01 42 29.762 +20 16 06.62 5.24 133.91 0.91 0.836
00 25 45.072 -77 15 15.28 2.82 133.78 0.51 0.618
01 08 16.394 +54 55 13.22 5.17 132.40 0.60 0.704
22 56 24.053 -31 33 56.04 6.48 130.94 0.92 1.094
22 57 39.046 -29 37 20.05 1.17 130.08 0.92 0.145
18 36 56.336 +38 47 01.29 0.03 128.93 0.55 -0.001
04 49 50.411 +06 57 40.59 3.19 124.60 0.95 0.484
18 21 03.383 +72 43 58.23 3.55 124.11 0.48 0.489
01 39 47.543 -56 11 47.04 5.76 122.75 1.41 0.880
12 33 44.545 +41 21 26.93 4.24 119.46 0.83 0.588
17 46 27.527 +27 43 14.43 3.42 119.05 0.62 0.750
13 18 24.315 -18 18 40.31 4.74 117.30 0.71 0.709
00 20 04.260 -64 52 29.25 4.23 116.38 0.64 0.576
05 54 22.982 +20 16 34.23 4.39 115.43 1.08 0.594
17 19 03.834 -46 38 10.44 5.47 113.81 1.36 0.764
05 00 49.000 -05 45 13.23 6.22 113.46 0.82 1.049
20 15 17.391 -27 01 58.72 5.73 113.33 0.89 0.878
05 44 27.790 -22 26 54.18 3.59 111.49 0.60 0.481
03 43 14.902 -09 45 48.22 3.52 110.58 0.88 0.915
13 11 52.393 +27 52 41.46 4.23 109.23 0.72 0.572
11 52 58.769 +37 43 07.24 6.42 109.21 0.78 0.754
03 19 21.696 +03 22 12.71 4.84 109.18 0.78 0.681
21 26 26.606 -65 21 58.31 4.21 108.50 0.59 0.494
11 46 31.072 -40 30 01.27 4.89 108.23 0.70 0.664
11 34 29.487 -32 49 52.82 5.96 104.84 0.81 0.811
11 41 03.015 +34 12 05.89 5.31 104.81 0.72 0.723
16 36 21.449 -02 19 28.50 5.77 102.27 0.85 0.827
01 47 44.835 +63 51 09.00 5.63 100.24 0.68 0.804
13 57 32.057 +61 29 34.30 6.49 98.97 0.56 1.040
06 10 14.474 -74 45 10.96 5.08 98.54 0.45 0.714
07 45 18.950 +28 01 34.32 1.16 96.74 0.87 0.991
02 52 32.129 -12 46 10.97 6.05 96.33 0.77 0.862
03 09 04.020 +49 36 47.80 4.05 94.93 0.67 0.595
23 52 25.320 +75 32 40.52 6.36 92.68 0.55 0.977
16 41 17.160 +31 36 09.81 2.81 92.63 0.60 0.650
02 17 03.230 +34 13 27.23 4.84 92.20 0.84 0.607
11 50 41.719 +01 45 52.98 3.59 91.74 0.77 0.518
02 10 25.934 -50 49 25.41 6.12 91.63 0.61 0.812
11 49 03.578 +14 34 19.42 2.14 90.16 0.89 0.090
18 09 37.416 +38 27 28.00 6.38 90.11 0.54 0.876
00 39 21.806 +21 15 01.70 5.88 90.03 0.72 0.850
15 56 27.183 +15 39 41.82 3.85 89.92 0.72 0.478
09 35 39.502 +35 48 36.48 5.40 89.45 0.78 0.770
13 16 51.052 +17 01 01.86 6.49 89.07 0.99 0.926
02 44 11.986 +49 13 42.41 4.10 89.03 0.79 0.514
14 15 39.672 +19 10 56.68 -0.05 88.85 0.74 1.239
13 54 41.079 +18 23 51.78 2.68 88.17 0.75 0.580
14 53 23.766 +19 09 10.07 6.00 86.69 0.81 0.841
05 05 30.656 -57 28 21.73 4.71 85.83 0.46 0.526
15 46 26.613 +07 21 11.06 4.42 85.08 0.80 0.604
22 07 00.666 +25 20 42.40 3.77 85.06 0.71 0.435
21 47 02.445 -16 07 38.23 2.85 84.58 0.88 0.180
12 41 39.642 -01 26 57.75 2.74 84.53 1.18 0.368
03 18 12.819 -62 30 22.91 5.24 82.79 0.53 0.600
16 28 28.144 -70 05 03.84 4.90 82.61 0.57 0.555
03 17 46.163 -62 34 31.16 5.53 82.51 0.54 0.641
08 32 51.496 -31 30 03.07 6.38 82.15 0.66 0.780
05 41 20.336 +53 28 51.81 6.21 81.69 0.83 0.840
15 55 08.562 -63 25 50.62 2.83 81.24 0.62 0.315
00 02 10.155 +27 04 56.12 5.80 80.63 3.03 0.690
08 52 35.811 +28 19 50.95 5.96 79.80 0.84 0.869
08 18 23.947 -12 37 55.82 5.95 79.48 0.77 0.754
01 41 47.143 +42 36 48.13 4.96 79.09 0.83 0.618
05 19 08.474 +40 05 56.59 4.69 79.08 0.90 0.630
02 18 58.505 -25 56 44.47 6.33 78.88 0.72 0.724
15 03 47.304 +47 39 14.62 4.83 78.39 1.03 0.647
17 25 00.099 +67 18 24.14 6.44 78.14 0.51 0.759
10 30 37.580 +55 58 49.93 4.82 77.82 0.65 0.541
16 24 01.290 -39 11 34.73 5.37 77.69 0.86 0.625
12 00 44.451 -10 26 45.65 5.54 77.48 0.80 0.760
05 16 41.359 +45 59 52.77 0.08 77.29 0.89 0.795
18 38 53.400 -21 03 06.74 5.85 77.02 0.85 0.673
04 47 36.292 -16 56 04.04 5.49 75.10 0.80 0.632
01 36 47.843 +41 24 19.65 4.10 74.25 0.72 0.536
09 32 51.434 +51 40 38.28 3.17 74.15 0.74 0.475

--
Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
(Please email your reply if you want to be sure I see it; include a
valid Reply-To address to receive an acknowledgement. Commercial
email may be sent to your ISP.)

Steve Willner wrote:
In article .com,
writes:

My preference ... is to have a list with
the common names of the stars (or other objects), indicating light-year
distance. An additional preference is *visible* stars that can be seen
with the naked eye


While not exactly what you want, just for jollies I used the VizieR
catalog service http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR to search
the Hipparcos catalog for the 100 nearest stars that are brighter
than V=6.5, i.e., naked-eye visible under excellent conditions.
Results are below. Unfortunately there are no names, but one could
use the RA and Dec to look up the names in SIMBAD. Positions are
J2000 with proper motions taken into account at that epoch (if I
understand the output). The Plx column is parallax, and e is the
uncertainty in that value. Distance in light years is 3262/Plx,
which you could easily compute by throwing the table below into a
spreadsheet.

The first two stars are obviously alpha Cen B and A, and the third
one is Sirius. After that recognition gets a little tougher. :-)

Well, *I* just happen to have the *printed* copy of the Hipparcos
catalog sitting right here in my office. Table 3.6.1, on pp. 482-483
of volume 1, lists the closest 150 stars (regardless of magnitude)
in the catalog. It has names too, which I've added below, and numbers
from the Henry Draper (HD) catalog; and I've included one name from
Richard Hinckley Allen, _Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning_. [A
wonderful book btw.]

RAJ2000 DEJ2000 Vmag Plx e B-V Name, Bayer or
"h:m:s" "d:m:s" mag mas mas mag Flamsteed desig, or
HD number
14 39 35.081 -60 50 13.76 1.35 742.12 1.40 0.900 alpha Cen B
14 39 36.496 -60 50 02.31 -0.01 742.12 1.40 0.710 alpha Cen A
06 45 08.917 -16 42 58.02 -1.44 379.21 1.58 0.009 Sirius (alpha CMa)
03 32 55.844 -09 27 29.74 3.72 310.75 0.85 0.881 epsilon Eri
21 06 53.943 +38 44 57.89 5.20 287.13 1.51 1.069 61 Cyg A
07 39 18.118 +05 13 29.98 0.40 285.93 0.88 0.432 Procyon (alpha CMi)
21 06 55.264 +38 44 31.40 6.05 285.42 0.72 1.309 61 Cyg B
22 03 21.657 -56 47 09.51 4.69 275.76 0.69 1.056 epsilon Ind
01 44 04.083 -15 56 14.93 3.49 274.17 0.80 0.727 tau Cet
04 15 16.320 -07 39 10.33 4.43 198.24 0.84 0.820 Keid (omicron^2 Eri)
18 05 27.286 +02 30 00.36 4.03 196.62 1.38 0.860 70 Oph
19 50 46.999 +08 52 05.96 0.76 194.44 0.94 0.221 Altair (alpha Aql)
19 32 21.591 +69 39 40.23 4.67 173.41 0.46 0.786 sigma Dra
14 57 28.000 -21 24 55.71 5.72 169.32 1.67 1.024 HD 131977
00 49 06.291 +57 48 54.67 3.46 167.99 0.62 0.587 eta Cas
17 16 13.363 -26 32 46.13 6.33 167.56 1.06 1.144 HD 156026
17 15 20.978 -26 36 10.19 4.33 167.08 1.07 0.855 36 Oph
20 11 11.938 -36 06 04.36 5.32 165.24 0.90 0.868 HD 191408
03 19 55.651 -43 04 11.22 4.26 165.02 0.55 0.711 e Eri
20 08 43.608 -66 10 55.45 3.55 163.73 0.65 0.751 delta Pav
23 13 16.975 +57 10 06.08 5.57 153.24 0.65 1.000 HD 219134
14 51 23.379 +19 06 01.66 4.54 149.26 0.76 0.720 xi Boo
17 18 57.179 -34 59 23.25 5.91 143.45 17.12 1.082 HD 156384
02 36 04.894 +06 53 12.73 5.79 138.72 1.04 0.918 HD 16160
00 48 22.977 +05 16 50.21 5.74 134.04 0.86 0.890 HD 4628
01 42 29.762 +20 16 06.62 5.24 133.91 0.91 0.836 107 Psc
00 25 45.072 -77 15 15.28 2.82 133.78 0.51 0.618 beta Hyi
01 08 16.394 +54 55 13.22 5.17 132.40 0.60 0.704 mu Cas
22 56 24.053 -31 33 56.04 6.48 130.94 0.92 1.094 HD 216803
22 57 39.046 -29 37 20.05 1.17 130.08 0.92 0.145 Fomalhaut (alpha PsA)
18 36 56.336 +38 47 01.29 0.03 128.93 0.55 -0.001 Vega (alpha Lyr)
04 49 50.411 +06 57 40.59 3.19 124.60 0.95 0.484 pi^3 Ori
18 21 03.383 +72 43 58.23 3.55 124.11 0.48 0.489 chi Dra
01 39 47.543 -56 11 47.04 5.76 122.75 1.41 0.880 p Eri
12 33 44.545 +41 21 26.93 4.24 119.46 0.83 0.588 beta CVn
17 46 27.527 +27 43 14.43 3.42 119.05 0.62 0.750 mu Her
13 18 24.315 -18 18 40.31 4.74 117.30 0.71 0.709 61 Vir
00 20 04.260 -64 52 29.25 4.23 116.38 0.64 0.576 zeta Tuc
05 54 22.982 +20 16 34.23 4.39 115.43 1.08 0.594 chi^1 Ori
17 19 03.834 -46 38 10.44 5.47 113.81 1.36 0.764 HD 156274
05 00 49.000 -05 45 13.23 6.22 113.46 0.82 1.049 HD 32147
20 15 17.391 -27 01 58.72 5.73 113.33 0.89 0.878 HD 192310
05 44 27.790 -22 26 54.18 3.59 111.49 0.60 0.481 gamma Lep
03 43 14.902 -09 45 48.22 3.52 110.58 0.88 0.915 delta Eri
.... Steve's table cuts off here; you're on your own thereafter except
for a few no-brainers :-)
13 11 52.393 +27 52 41.46 4.23 109.23 0.72 0.572
11 52 58.769 +37 43 07.24 6.42 109.21 0.78 0.754
03 19 21.696 +03 22 12.71 4.84 109.18 0.78 0.681
21 26 26.606 -65 21 58.31 4.21 108.50 0.59 0.494
11 46 31.072 -40 30 01.27 4.89 108.23 0.70 0.664
11 34 29.487 -32 49 52.82 5.96 104.84 0.81 0.811
11 41 03.015 +34 12 05.89 5.31 104.81 0.72 0.723
16 36 21.449 -02 19 28.50 5.77 102.27 0.85 0.827
01 47 44.835 +63 51 09.00 5.63 100.24 0.68 0.804
13 57 32.057 +61 29 34.30 6.49 98.97 0.56 1.040
06 10 14.474 -74 45 10.96 5.08 98.54 0.45 0.714
07 45 18.950 +28 01 34.32 1.16 96.74 0.87 0.991 Pollux (beta Gem)
02 52 32.129 -12 46 10.97 6.05 96.33 0.77 0.862
03 09 04.020 +49 36 47.80 4.05 94.93 0.67 0.595
23 52 25.320 +75 32 40.52 6.36 92.68 0.55 0.977
16 41 17.160 +31 36 09.81 2.81 92.63 0.60 0.650 zeta Her
02 17 03.230 +34 13 27.23 4.84 92.20 0.84 0.607
11 50 41.719 +01 45 52.98 3.59 91.74 0.77 0.518
02 10 25.934 -50 49 25.41 6.12 91.63 0.61 0.812
11 49 03.578 +14 34 19.42 2.14 90.16 0.89 0.090 Denebola (beta Leo)
18 09 37.416 +38 27 28.00 6.38 90.11 0.54 0.876
00 39 21.806 +21 15 01.70 5.88 90.03 0.72 0.850
15 56 27.183 +15 39 41.82 3.85 89.92 0.72 0.478
09 35 39.502 +35 48 36.48 5.40 89.45 0.78 0.770
13 16 51.052 +17 01 01.86 6.49 89.07 0.99 0.926
02 44 11.986 +49 13 42.41 4.10 89.03 0.79 0.514
14 15 39.672 +19 10 56.68 -0.05 88.85 0.74 1.239 Arcturus (alpha Boo)
13 54 41.079 +18 23 51.78 2.68 88.17 0.75 0.580 Muphrid (eta Boo)
14 53 23.766 +19 09 10.07 6.00 86.69 0.81 0.841
05 05 30.656 -57 28 21.73 4.71 85.83 0.46 0.526
15 46 26.613 +07 21 11.06 4.42 85.08 0.80 0.604
22 07 00.666 +25 20 42.40 3.77 85.06 0.71 0.435
21 47 02.445 -16 07 38.23 2.85 84.58 0.88 0.180 Deneb Algedi (delta Cap)
12 41 39.642 -01 26 57.75 2.74 84.53 1.18 0.368 Porrima (gamma Vir)
03 18 12.819 -62 30 22.91 5.24 82.79 0.53 0.600
16 28 28.144 -70 05 03.84 4.90 82.61 0.57 0.555
03 17 46.163 -62 34 31.16 5.53 82.51 0.54 0.641
08 32 51.496 -31 30 03.07 6.38 82.15 0.66 0.780
05 41 20.336 +53 28 51.81 6.21 81.69 0.83 0.840
15 55 08.562 -63 25 50.62 2.83 81.24 0.62 0.315 beta TrA
00 02 10.155 +27 04 56.12 5.80 80.63 3.03 0.690
08 52 35.811 +28 19 50.95 5.96 79.80 0.84 0.869
08 18 23.947 -12 37 55.82 5.95 79.48 0.77 0.754
01 41 47.143 +42 36 48.13 4.96 79.09 0.83 0.618
05 19 08.474 +40 05 56.59 4.69 79.08 0.90 0.630
02 18 58.505 -25 56 44.47 6.33 78.88 0.72 0.724
15 03 47.304 +47 39 14.62 4.83 78.39 1.03 0.647
17 25 00.099 +67 18 24.14 6.44 78.14 0.51 0.759
10 30 37.580 +55 58 49.93 4.82 77.82 0.65 0.541
16 24 01.290 -39 11 34.73 5.37 77.69 0.86 0.625
12 00 44.451 -10 26 45.65 5.54 77.48 0.80 0.760
05 16 41.359 +45 59 52.77 0.08 77.29 0.89 0.795 Capella (alpha Aur)
18 38 53.400 -21 03 06.74 5.85 77.02 0.85 0.673
04 47 36.292 -16 56 04.04 5.49 75.10 0.80 0.632
01 36 47.843 +41 24 19.65 4.10 74.25 0.72 0.536
09 32 51.434 +51 40 38.28 3.17 74.15 0.74 0.475

-- Bill Owen